The dual headliner tour was nearing its end as it rolled into Glasgow, and what better venue than Stereo—a basement space that feels tailor-made for this kind of night. Below ground, dimly lit, grungy, intimate, and gloriously loud, it provided the perfect setting for the genre-bending sounds of KONTRAVOID and Buzz Kull.
Despite the wet and windy Monday evening, a dedicated Glasgow crowd turned out—true to form and full of energy. Numbers were decent considering the weather and the doors opening being pushed back by an hour… leaving some fans to face the Glasgow summer!
Buzz Kull took the stage first, though you could be forgiven for wondering if anyone was up there at all. Dense smoke and relentless strobes made it nearly impossible to make out anything beyond the silhouettes.
But the sound? That was unmistakable. A powerful mix of Australian post-punk and electro, his set quickly got the crowd moving. Buzz Kull delivered an electric performance—worth the ticket price alone.
Then came KONTRAVOID, the Canadian darkwave master known off-stage as Cameron Findlay. Picking up the moody baton from Buzz Kull, he took things deeper into the shadows. With a sound rooted in EBM but polished with pop sensibilities, KONTRAVOID’s music could easily leap from underground venues to bigger stages without losing its edge. His set was a visceral ride—part bombast, part synth-driven introspection—and it had the crowd captivated from start to finish.
Every track hit a sweet spot, especially for fans of dark electronica. Whether you call it industrial, darkwave, EBM, or some unclassifiable blend of synthy electroness (is that a word? It is now), it was bloody brilliant.
Let’s just hope neither act waits too long before bringing their harsh beats and moody magic back to Glasgow; longer sets would be good too as the setlist tonight were painfully short.
Review & Photographs by John Brown Photography
